Smiles
by SafyreSky
Summary: "Smile! Make this memory a good one!" [A giant one-shot dump focusing on Jack and his family. Now Playing: When Bernard Met Jacqueline. A brief break from Winter's Birthday focusing on how these two met and how their friendship came to be.]
1. Laundry Day

**Laundry Day**

"Morning Jacqueline," Jack said, wandering into the kitchen.

"Morning—what happened to you?" She asked.

"I just decided to try a new look—"

"You look like you walked out of an old timey British punk band!"

"That's _exactly_ what I was going for!"

"_Dear God_."

"You know, I used to wear this getup all the time in the sixties," he said, grabbing the milk carton out of the ice box.

Jacqueline just stared at him, taking in his crazy getup. He wore—she didn't know what it was, really. His hair was tinted blue today, lying flat and long on his head. A thin, silver scarf sat on his neck, dangling about beyond his knees, a long, blue-ish silvery trench coat on top. She thought he was wearing a sweater with cute little snowflakes frozen on, and were those _tight_ silver leather pants?

"Oh God, the leather pants are hereditary, aren't they."

"Please. I pull these off much better than Mother Nature does."

"You've gone crazy. You've finally lost it. You're bonkers."

"I am not! I'm just…feeling nostalgic…"

"You're out of clean clothes to wear, aren't you."

"No—uh—yeah, I am. I have to do laundry today and this old thing is the only thing I have to wear."

"Oh my god. Where's the camera! Wait until Santa sees this."

"Can we not show him—"

"Bernard's gonna have a _field_ day!"

"Jacqueline, now you're pushing it—"

"I gotta show Elle, too, she'll love this."

"You pushed it."

"I wonder if the other Legates have seen their Legendaries in crazy get ups like this…"

Jack sighed, drinking straight from the carton. "You know," he said, carton still clutched in his hand, "I kind of like this old thing. These pants are beyond comfortable."

"They're leather."

"_Silk_ actually. I think. Maybe velvet."

"Jack, they're patched up!"

"It adds character!"

"Dude. _Seriously_."

"I could be walking around naked. Butt naked."

Jacqueline shivered, a look of disgust on her face.

"Point taken. I'll shut up now."

"Yeah, you will."

* * *

"He looks like a rip off of the Ninth Doctor!"

"Yeah, but like he fell into a vat of blue, white and silver tie dye."

"Oh god you have to show Bernard," Elle said, choking on her laughter.

"Oh I plan on it."

* * *

Bernard was doubled over in laughter, desperately trying to breathe.

"Oh man, I gotta get a copy. Totally not for black mail," Bernard said, calming down. "Official things."

"Who're you kidding, B-man, it's blackmail," Jacqueline said, grinning.

"Fine, it's black mail," he admitted. "But seriously, how could it _not_ be used for black mail? I could get him to stop bugging me for a _while_, that's for sure," Bernard finished, giggling.

"My thoughts exactly," Elle grinned.

"We're perfect for each other," Bernard said, kissing her cheek. "Now if you two will excuse me, I've got things to do that involve a photocopier. You too, Elle. Though not photocopier related, I'll take care of that."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"Show Santa that picture then meet me in R&amp;D, guys. That picture will make his day," he said, keeping laughter to himself as he left the room.

* * *

"What did the cat drag in?" Santa said, ho ho ho-ing as he stared at the picture of Jack.

"More like the Beatles called, they want their clothes back," Elle said, grinning and fist bumping Jacqueline.

"Are those _leather pants?!_ And I thought Mother Nature's were bad enough!"

"Right?!" Jacqueline said.

"Oh man, this is going in the scrapbook. Wait until the missus sees _this_!"

Jacqueline grinned, watching Santa leave the room and find his wife.

That'll teach Jack to not do his laundry. And to not drink from the carton…

* * *

**A/N: Hello world! Happy December! I'm in the midst of exam season but I have like 10 little one-shots sitting around, and I really want to share them with the world. To get the joke with this one shot, you'd need to be aware of the behind the scenes in TSC2-the outfit Jack is wearing was the original look they wanted to go with for Jack (but it made Marty look too friendly and so they had to make it more scary so the kiddies would be actually scared and the acting would be what they need), and in a special "Meet the Council of Legendary Figures" feature it's revealed that Mother Nature likes leather pants.**

**So yeah, here's the first one! I hope you all lOVE IT and please give me your feedback! _Twelve Years of Frostmas_ will slowly be updating and despite NaNoWriMo, I still haven't made it far enough in _Dark Shadows_ to start updating regularly. Perhaps I'll put the first chapter up though, soon. We'll see. For now, enjoy your week and good luck on whatever endeavours are cluttering up your plate!**

**Word Count: 618 (Sans A/N and Disclaimers)**

* * *

**DISCLAIMERS  
**

**********I do not own _The Santa Clause_, Jack Frost or any other canon characters mentioned above. I am making no profit off of this, it is purely for my enjoyment as well as that of the readers. I do, however, own Crystal Springs and Jacqueline Frost, as well as her family: Blaise Frost, Winter Frost, Fino Frost and Fiera Frost. Any resemblance they bear to any specific person/place/thing is purely coincidental; please do not use them without MY permission. **The Legate concept is also mine; I do not mind anyone using it, so long as credit is given where credit is due.************

**I also do not own Elle. She belongs to Ana, aka etiquette-faux-pas. I am merely borrowing Ms Connelly and have vowed to return her (relatively) unharmed.**


	2. Bacon

_"Don't you think you've had enough sugar for one day?" Elle asked._

_"What're you talking about, I haven't even had a decent breakfast yet. Jack ate all the bacon, he and Fino literally fought for the last piece…"_

_-The Marvelous Misadventures of Jacqueline and Elle: Frozen_

* * *

**Bacon**

Both forks hit the last piece of bacon at the same time.

Silence descended upon the long table, the owners of the two forks currently stuck in a deliciously crunchy piece of top grade Canadian bacon engaged in a very violent stare off.

"_My_ fork hit first," said the younger one, his red eyes determined, fiery hair burning tall as he stood up on the chair.

"I couldn't disagree with you more, brother. My fork hit the middle _first,_" said the eldest, his icy blue eyes staring at the young boy, frozen hair gleaming. He got up from his chair, matching the younger's intimidation attempts.

"I'll fight you for it," said the younger.

"Boys," their mother said menacingly, as if this were a regular occurrence in the household.

"I'm game," said the elder.

"Blaise, do something, please? Control your sons," the mother said, glancing at the man seated at the head of the table. He raised a red eyebrow, his fiery hair sparking, crimson eyes glancing at the two boys determined to have the last piece of succulent meat for themselves.

"Of course, Winter," said Blaise. "A situation like this requires a delicate touch."

Cracking his knuckles, the father stood up, hands on his waist. The boys glanced at their father, slightly fearful and mildly amused.

A fiery girl sat beside the fiery boy, her burning bob sparking, looking very similar to the boy seated beside her-twins, perhaps. She sent a confused glance across the table at the frosty girl seated beside the frosty man. The teenager shrugged, just as confused as everyone else.

"Now," Blaise said, adopting a boxing match officiator's voice. "I want a fair fight, you hear? No icicles, no half formed lava balls. Nothing but Snowballs and fireballs, _below_ three hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit _please_ and no lower than thirty degrees Celsius, you hear?"

"Blaise!" Winter chided.

"Three…two…one…GO!"

The two boys fired, a snowball hitting the fiery sprite right in the face. He fell off the chair, his second fiery shot flying upwards, disappearing before it hit the high ceiling as the frosty one merely side stepped the first properly aimed attack.

"Fino, you're losing!" the fiery girl shouted. "You're giving us a bad rep!"

"Well excuse me, Fiera!" Fino shouted back from under the table.

"I just wanted a quiet breakfast for _once_," the frosty girl said, ducking a snowball.

"Not happening anytime soon, Jacqueline. Not until that little scamp gives up his claim on _my_ bacon!"

Jacqueline glared at her older brother, an impish grin on his pale face as he shot a trio of snowballs at the flaming blur on the floor.

"Missed me, Jack!" the boy shouted, rolling under the table. Seconds later, he knocked right into Jack, propelling himself up from under the table.

The two tumbled into the adjacent living room, Jack rolling onto his feet, Fino crashing into one of the couches. Momentarily distracted, Jack shook his head clear, noticing Fino rushing back to the kitchen.

"Oh no you don't!" he shouted. A quick flick of his hand and an icy beam flew over the floor, freezing Fino's trail and causing him to slip and slide away from the kitchen.

Grinning, Jack slid on the ice and grabbed his brother around the middle tossing him away from the table.

Tumbling briefly, Fino found his feet and jumped on Jack, grabbing his hand right as he reached for the plate of bacon. The brothers toppled over, Winter pushing back her chair and sighing, Blaise watching for any cheating on either brother's part, moved _closer_ to the action.

"Oh my god this is absolute nonsense," Jacqueline said from the table, frowning.

"This is what, like the third time this week?" Fiera said.

Jacqueline sighed. "Fourth."

"It seemed like more," Fiera said, cheerily.

"Ugh, I don't have time for this, I have a movie to go catch!"

"Ten bucks says Fino beats Jack," Fiera said, grinning.

"I have a better idea," Jacqueline said. Reaching out, she grabbed the piece of bacon off the platter, taking a large, loud bite out of the last piece of the succulent Grade-A Canadian bacon.

Silence resounded, not a sound but the brothers scuffling.

Fiera grinned, hopping on the table and grabbing Jacqueline's bacon-filled hand, lifting it up in the air.

"We have a winner!" she shouted.

"No fair!" Jack shouted, standing up from under the table.

"That's cheating!" Fino said, on top of Jack's shoulders, his hands on Jack's fast melting hair.

"Creative thinking," Fiera countered, grinning.

"You little _flurry_. Blaise, that can't possibly be allowed," Jack pouted.

"I'll allow it," Blaise said, grinning.

"Take that," Jacquie said, munching happily on the bacon.

"She ate it!" Jack exclaimed.

"Everything is terrible forever!" Fino shouted, dramatically jumping off of Jack's shoulders and fake dying on his chair.

"You boys take everything _much_ too seriously," Winter said. "We can always make more bacon…"

"Mother, it will never replace that last piece of bacon that Jacqueline so ruthlessly stole from right under our noses," Jack said, sounding on the brink of near tears.

Winter rolled her eyes. "You boys are too much."

"What a great piece of bacon that was," Jacqueline gloated.

"Can it," Jack said.

"Can't, it's in my belly, and not yours or yours, dead-boy."

"You _monster_!" Fino exclaimed.

Jacqueline shrugged. "I regret nothing."

* * *

**A/N-Oh man, this was one of my _favourite_ shots to write. When Jacquie said they literally fought for the last piece, they LITERALLY fought for the last piece hehehe. I had to write this after writing that line in _The Marvelous Misadventures of Jacqueline and Elle: Frozen_ (and I hope that's how I wrote the title because it's a mouthful orz). Not much else to say about this! Tell me what you thought lovelies! And have a good night and THANK YOU for all the kind reviews, they make my night :D**

**Word Count (sans a/n, disclaimers, and the bit from MM): 889**

* * *

**DISCLAIMERS  
**

**********I do not own _The Santa Clause_, Jack Frost or any other canon characters mentioned above. I am making no profit off of this, it is purely for my enjoyment as well as that of the readers. I do, however, own Crystal Springs and Jacqueline Frost, as well as her family: Blaise Frost, Winter Frost, Fino Frost and Fiera Frost. Any resemblance they bear to any specific person/place/thing is purely coincidental; please do not use them without MY permission. **The Legate concept is also mine; I do not mind anyone using it, so long as credit is given where credit is due.************


	3. Beware the Slushy Heart

_"That ending the act of true love wasn't a kiss it was Anna sacrificing herself for Elsa—"_

_"—and those last lines I mean really. You sacrificed yourself for me?"_

_"Of course, I love you! Wow, I really miss my sisters now…"_

_"I think I'm going to go home and hug Fiera," Jacqueline murmured._

_"But you'll melt!" Elle quoted._

_"Some people are worth melting for," Jacqueline replied, not missing a beat._

_-The Marvelous Misadventures of Jacqueline and Elle: Frozen_

* * *

Jacqueline arrived on the front porch of Frost Mansion, still in awe of the movie. The door magically opening for her she walked in, throwing off her boots and jacket, refreezing her hair and magicking her usual dress back on.

"Hey Jacqueline! How was the movie?" Fiera asked, skipping into the front entrance.

"It was everything I hoped it would be and more," Jacqueline said. She stared at her younger sister intently; confused, Fiera tilted her head, her crimson eyes scrutining her older sister's face. Fiera could not for the life of her figure out what kinda look it was.

Suddenly Jacqueline approached her younger sister, picked her up and hugged her tightly.

"Oh…uh, I love you too Jacquie…why is your grip so _tight?!_"

The winter sprite neglected to reply, eyes closed and hug tightening, the telltale sound of melting ice _seemingly_ unnoticed.

"Uh…Jacquie?"

Still she held onto Fiera.

"Can you put me down now?"

No answer.

"Um…" For once in her life, Fiera was totally thrown off. Confused and mildly concerned, she began to squirm, trying to wiggle her way free.

"Stop that and let me love you," Jacquie said.

"What did this movie do to you?" Fiera asked.

"It made me feel so many feels…"

"Hey Fiera, aren't we gonna go blow up—oh, hi Jacquie. We weren't gonna blow anything up…uh…Jacqueline? You okay?" Fino asked, having entered the foyer from the kitchen and coming upon one of the most confusing scenes in his life (and there were a _lot_ of confusing things in _this_ house).

"Help me," his twin said, her efforts at escaping the hug futile.

Fino laughed. "No way! You're on your own," he said, grinning and running out of the foyer.

"I'll get you for that!" Fiera shouted, still squished in Jacquie's cold embrace. "Jacquie, seriously! You're gonna give me a cold!"

"Shush. Let's go build a snowman," Jacquie said.

"No… no, no gods no Jacqueline wait AH NOT THE OUTSIDE IT'S COLD OUT THERE SOMEBODY HELP ME SAVE ME FROM THE COLD!"

But nobody came.

And Fiera was subjugated to a long afternoon of sisterly bonding.

* * *

(Later that evening as they sat having dinner, Fiera sat angrily, stabbing her food forcefully and complaining about her afternoon. And even though she was cold as could be and her hair was extinguished and refused to ignite and her face was all red and her nose all sniffly, she had had a lot of fun out in the snow with her chilly sister—though she would never admit it. After all, it didn't _have_ to be a snowman…and snow dragons were a lot more fun when you could make them breath _actual_ fire).

* * *

**A/N: I couldn't think of a good title for this one, and because Jacqueline's heart is _not_ frozen (in fact, she's the only winter sprite in the Frost family who HASN'T had her heart frozen over on purpose, by accident, or by curse), I couldn't really use "frozen" heart. The Twins and later Jack call her slushy quite frequently soo...there it is! I also couldn't resist the Frozen reference (though I find it hard to watch the movie because it's so overdone EVERYWHERE ugh why please stop Tangled is wonderful too!)**

**Anywho, this oneshot could kind of go along with the last one-Bacon took place before the events of Marvelous Misadventures and this one takes place after the movie, probably right before Elle and Jacquie pull all those shenanigans up North. Tomorrow probably, keep an eye out for Elle and Jacquie because there may be a one shot coming up with those two goofs and perhaps a _pointy_ situation...**

**Also this one is all OC's...hopefully you guys don't mind! Jack's up North at this point and Jacqueline goes to join and annoy him with Frozen shenanigans after (but that's already been written so yeargh).**

**Word Count sans A/N, excerpt from Marvelous Misadventures, and Disclaimers: 446**

* * *

************DISCLAIMER************

************I do not own _The Santa Clause_, Jack Frost or any other canon characters mentioned above. I am making no profit off of this, it is purely for my enjoyment as well as that of the readers. I do, however, own Crystal Springs and Jacqueline Frost, as well as her family: Blaise Frost, Winter Frost, Fino Frost and Fiera Frost. Any resemblance they bear to any specific person/place/thing is purely coincidental; please do not use them without MY permission. **The Legate concept is also mine; I do not mind anyone using it, so long as credit is given where credit is due.**************

**************I also do not own Elle. She is property of the lovely etiquette-faux-pas, whom has given me permission to use Ms Connelly and whom I have promised to return (relatively) unharmed.**************

**************Lastly, I do not own Frozen. That's property of Disney, which I sadly also do not own.**************


	4. Movie Night

Jack grumbled, flipping through the channels.

"Dude. What is it now?" His sister asked from the couch beside him, feet up on an ottoman and her laptop open on her lap.

"All these television specials and not a single one about me."

"There's _Rise of the Guardians_," Jacqueline murmured, eyes not moving from the laptop.

"Yeah but…well…it's not accurate at all! That Jack Frost is more like you. A rambunctious, mischievous teenager," the real Jack Frost said, sinking deeper into the plush couch.

Jacqueline grinned. "I am indeed-y all snowballs and fun times," she said.

"See?"

"Well there's _Frozen_. Elsa's pretty similar to you."

"Excuse me. Did you just accuse me of being a princess?"

"Yup."

"I am not a princess!

"Diva, princess, same thing," Jacqueline said, glancing at her brother.

"Not at all!"

"Not to mention you never built snowmen with me."

"I built snowmen with you!"

"Sure, for a bit. Then you left me alone for fourteen centuries, not a single word nor sight, and _especially_ no snowmen." Jacqueline said, her eyes straying from the screen, fixated on her brother.

"That's nothing like _Frozen_!"

"AND you did stab me in the chest with icicles."

"Stomach! And I told you I was sorry about that."

She rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. I know. I know you are." She smiled. "At any rate, you do have one Christmas special."

"Oh please," the sprite said, frozen face pouting. "That one about the human who dies and turns into a _snowman?_ _Ugh_."

"No, not that one. That one creeps me out, it's so _morbid_…like, seriously."

"I'm talking about the classic classics, Jacqueline! You know, _Rudolph_ and _Santa Claus is Coming to Town_, like those ones!"

"Oh, Rankin Bass. I was talking about those too, you know. Look," she said, typing and turning the screen towards her brother.

If there was one thing that Jack Frost, all powerful winter sprite and legendary figure, would never understand, it was the internet and computers. He was sure they were great—Jacqueline, having recently attended a human university, had gotten herself a laptop and turned the basement of Frost Mansion into a multimedia, human-esque living room. The whole family enjoyed it (except for Mario Kart, the Twins were _terrifying_ opponents and always beat them, except for on the rare occasion Jacqueline destroyed them), and Jack was quite happy with the lovely high definition, plasma screen television and infinite cable.

Except during Christmas.

He loved Santa, sure. And the season had been much better since his defrosting all those years ago. But he was still a little bit nippy about his lack of recognition. Jacqueline was right, of course; Jack Frost seemed to be popping up more and more in media. Belief was pretty widespread. But it wasn't the _same_ as he himself.

Sure, his mother Winter, said he should be happy about his finally being recognized—sans malicious intent. And he was. But still, an accurate portrayal would be great, right?

He'd seen them all, every possible Jack Frost rendition and none of them pleased him.

Heck, they nailed his sister nearly and nobody even _knew_ who she was!

"Shut it," Jacqueline said, having heard his thoughts. "At least I'm not as bitter about it as you are. Were. Sometimes still are. Anyway, you've missed one, you lava brain," Jacquie said, showing him the page.

"Rankin Bass did a Jack Frost Christmas special? Really?"

"Yup. And it's pretty cute. And I think accurate…except for the evil destroy Santa part."

Jack sighed heavily, frowning at his sister. She snickered in response, plugging her laptop into the TV via HDMI cable.

"What are you doing?"

"We're watching it. Sit," she ordered, grabbing a bag of popcorn and putting it in the microwave in the basement kitchenette. (Jack had _insisted_ on a microwave, it was one of his favourite human things, to be honest).

"Fine. Whatever floats your boat, _ma sœur._ If you insist."

"Oh but I do," she said, grabbing a throw blanket and wrapping herself in it, plopping beside her brother.

And so, popcorn in front of them and laptop hooked up, the two watched the Christmas special.

* * *

The screen faded to black, the opening song playing once more and signalling the end of the movie.

"Well? What did you think?"

Jack didn't say a word; he just sat quietly, deep in thought, his sister using his leg as a pillow.

"Jack?"

Still nothing. Jacqueline grew a little bit concerned. Jack wasn't one to be at a loss for words—normally he was chock full of them and the first one to let people know exactly what he thought.

"That was _awful_," Jack finally said.

"What?" his Legate replied, springing up and scattering the pillows around her everywhere.

"It was so _corny_! Why would I want to be human? For love?! Please, and sacrifice my amazing awesome power? No thank you."

"But it was so cute!"

"Corny!"

"They did get a lot of things right in their own way, you know."

"Well the not being able to see me thing is a little off; I choose to be invisible, thank you very much. And don't get me started on that winter system. Cutting all those snowflakes? Way too much time and work for all the snow that has to be everywhere, you know just as well as I do Jacqueline! And last I checked, Mother did _not_ have a beard."

"I swear you were crying at one point!"

"I was not! It was a corny and cheesy and silly, downright silly."

"The song is catchy!"

"Yes! It is. I actually like the song a lot. Everything else is awful," Jack said, getting up and heading to the stairs. "Besides," he said quietly, so quiet that Jacqueline barely heard it. "That's not at all how it went."

For starters, the town wasn't called January Junction. He couldn't quite recall what the actual name of the town was (which was quite a bummer as it was his favourite town back then) to be honest, it was centuries ago.

And her name was Elise, not Elisa. Just Elise. She had had the most beautiful laugh…and she really did love him.

* * *

**A/N-Once more I am in the middle of exam season and though I seem to be organizing Dark Shadows to a decent standpoint now, I have had zero time to write. I do miss contact with the fanfic world though and also wanted to update writers and readers who follow the explots of Jack and the Frosts; so tonight, I opened up my folder of unfinished Smile Shots, choose one, and finished it-here you have it! If you haven't seen Rankin Bass' _Jack Frost_ movie I highly recommend it. It's a little corny, Jack's quite right, but it's pretty adorable as Jacqueline says. The song is catchy too if you ask me ;)**

**So enjoy this smile shot and take it easy! Do drop me a line in that lovely white box, I love hearing from you darling snowflakes! **

**Word Count (Sans A/N and Disclaimer): 1,031 words.**

* * *

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own _The Santa Clause_ universe, nor do I own Jack Frost. I am making no profit off of this, it is purely for my enjoyment as well as that of my readers. I do however own Jack's sister Jacqueline Frost; any resemblance she bears to any person is purely coincidental. Please do NOT use Jacqueline without my permission.**

**I also do not own Rankin Bass or any of its associated films (Rudolph, Jack Frost or Santa Claus is Coming to Town); I do not own the snowman Jack Frost movie and I definitely do not own Frozen nor Rise of the Guardians. I merely enjoy the films and am borrowing them to fuel Jack's ego and Jacqueline's (and my) love of "Jack Frost" related lore, nor am I making any profit from mentioning the listed films.**


	5. Winter's Birthday Part I: The Idea

**Winter's Birthday: Part I**

The sun broke through the beige curtains, shinning across the light wooden floor and tickling the eyelids of the slumbering man. He felt the warmth on the tip of his nose and yawned, opening his crimson eyes. Stretching and yawning once more he stepped out of bed, wiggling his toes and staring out the window.

There was something significant about today's date.

December.

He frowned, his eyes roaming the room and landing on his slumbering wife.

_That's it!_ He thought. _It's the Winter Solstice!_

Grinning, the man jumped out of bed, his flat red hair sparking and bursting into flames as he did his daily morning routine. Dressed for the day and freshened up, he stared down at his wife, who opened her sharp blue eyes, a soft smile on her face.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart," he mumbled, kissing her softly.

"Mmm, good morning Blaise darling. And thank you," she replied, grabbing his tie and pulling him closer, smooching him once more.

"What shall we be doing for your special day, Winter?"

"Sleep," replied Winter, snuggling into her sheets.

Blaise chuckled. "Of course, love. Shall I draw the curtains?"

"No, the sunlight is nice."

"Not too warm?"

She giggled softly. "Not at all."

Blaise grinned, tucking in his wife and kissing her again. "Don't laze around too much today my dear," he said.

"I doubt you and the kids would let me, especially with Jack back."

Blaise left the room smiling, blowing a kiss to his dearest Winter, who caught it. Gently clicking the doors shut Blaise walked across the spacious hallway, peaking into the rooms of the youngest two children—the twins. His thoughts of Jack's first official full year back with the family and perhaps doing something special for Winter's birthday because of this recent change to their lives were stopped short once he looked at the soft orange room across the hall. To his surprise, instead of both kids snoozing in bed, sheets on the floor (and usually Fino, as well), the room was empty.

He left the room, glancing at the stairs leading up to his eldest daughter's rooms (as well as his oldest son's rooms), wondering if—should he brave the icy temperature—he'd find a similar stillness in Jacqueline's room. As Blaise stood pondering where his kids were and why it was so _quiet_, a clatter in the kitchen downstairs echoing through the grandiose mansion let him know where he could find his children. He set off downstairs, preparing himself for the worst possible case scenario, and entered the kitchen.

It was a _disaster_.

Fiera stood beside Jacqueline on a stool, pancake batter all over her face and dripping onto the floor. Jacquie stood by the stove, pancakes cooking nicely, flour _everywhere_—including all over her; a piece of crunchy bacon was in her mouth, a tray pilled high with bacon and breakfast sausages beside her. Fino stood on a stool beside Fiera, sausages attached to a stick and roasting over his twin's hair. Cracked eggshells were everywhere _but_ the compost bin and what a _mess _the kitchen was.

"What in the blazes…"

"Morning Dad," Jacqueline said, waving cheerfully, her not-yet-icy ponytail bobbing. "We decided to do something special for mom today."

"We made her breakfast!" said Fiera.

"I think we went overkill on the sausages though," Fino said, touching the ones he was currently roasting. Satisfied with how they turned out, he chomped down on one, hoping down from his stool and picking up the metal tray on the floor beside him—the source of the clatter.

"You can never ever ever ever e_ver _have too many sausages, Fino," Fiera replied.

"Sorry about the mess, Dad. We kinda got a little…carried away."

"I'll say," Blaise said, snapping his fingers. A mop came out of one of the small pantries, washing up the spilt batter. A feather duster starting cleaning up Jacqueline, who angrily shooed it away, flipping her winter-themed pancakes. A dustpan picked up the eggshells, the compost bin by the backyard door opening up and trapping the shells inside.

"Jacquie was showing us how to make shaped pancakes!"

"I made a flame!"

"And I made an explosion!"

"Fiera it looks like a mushroom."

"Yeah, well your flame looks like a poop."

Fino looked appalled. "Take that back you uncultured swine!"

"Never you do-do brain!"

Within moments, Fino and Fiera were on top of each other, a blur of flames rolling on the floor. Blaise flinched as the squabbling siblings hit the island, a few metal measuring cups clattering to the stone floor.

"Would you two shut it? You're gonna wake up Mom!"

"Not until he takes back what he said about my explosion!"

"You called my flame a poop!"

"Fino, Fiera, settle down," Blaise said, grabbing the twins—one in each hand—and separating them, lifting them up with ease. "It is your mother's birthday and she's trying to sleep a little while longer. The two of you can fight later; for now it's quiet time, alright?"

"Yeah Dad."

"Sure, sure."

"Can you put us down now?"

"Not until you both apologise for insulting each others pancakes."

"I'm not going first!"

"Fine. Fiera, I'm sorry I called your explosion a mushroom."

"Thank you, Fino. Now Fiera?"

"Oh al_right_! Geez…Fino I'm sorry for calling your flame a poop."

"Now say it's the bestest flame you've _ever_ seen."

"What?"

"You're pushing it, little man. You've been hanging around your brother way too much," Blaise said, putting them down.

"He's cool though, Dad! He watched all my musicals with me and sung along to _every_ song!"

"They bonded," Fiera added, dusting off her dress pajamas and skipping to the one clean counter top, grabbing the dishes.

Blaise smiled. "Speaking of your brother, is he coming home today?"

"Not sure," Jacqueline replied, blowing her brown fringe away from her eyes. "He's been enjoying his time in Gstaad. Said the silence was a welcome respite, the snowdiva he is. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I've been thinking of doing something special for your mother's birthday. I want to make it _the_ best one, now that she's finally happy," he said, smiling.

"Make a volcano explode and write her name with lava islands in the ocean!" Fiera said, bringing the dishes into the dinning room.

"Too grand."

"What about a nice igneous necklace?" Fino suggested, grabbing the milk and maple syrup.

"Too small."

"You could always ask Jack," Jacquie said. "He could help you with your annual gift giving dilemma."

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Blaise said, thoughtful as he brewed the coffee.

A very good idea, in fact.

* * *

Gstaad was freezing cold—but a lovely place.

Blaise walked through the town, reaching the middle of the town square. He let out a low whistle and stared out at the picturesque scene before him. He stood on the promenade, watching the people walk by—tourists taking photos, locals happily going about their business. The promenade was surrounded by shops, galleries and hotels, a light snow coating the village and making it look fresh out of a Christmas movie.

Rubbing his hands together before shoving them back into his warm pockets, Blaise walked past the art galleries, hotels and restaurants; little shops were dotted about the square. Upon closer look, Blaise realized they were designer shops—Marc Jacobs, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Prada…

"It's like Jack's dream winter wonderland," he murmured, continuing his beautiful walk. It ended all too soon when Blaise arrived at his son's place.

A large, wooden chalet converted into several condominiums was where Jack had chosen to live. The façade of the place seemed to be made of logs, snow coating the roof and windows aglow. Blaise had asked at the front where he might find one by the name of Jack Frost and was told to go right up to the top—the "penthouse" suite, as it were. Blaise smiled. Of _course_ Jack would live in the penthouse, nothing but the best, as he would say. Blaise knocked on the door, grinning—Jacqueline was right; Jack was quite the snowdiva indeed.

"Coming, coming…_uno momento por favor_…"

Blaise stopped knocking, waiting patiently and ignoring the clattering going on behind the door. The doorknob rattled and the door opened, revealing the formal as always Jack Frost. His icy blue eyes looked at Blaise in shock, mouth opened in a little "o".

"Hey son."

"Blaise…Dad, hello! What brings you…how did you find my condo?"

"Your Mom isn't the only one with a special connection to her kids," Blaise winked.

"No…well that is to say…eh, no matter. If this is about today I know it's Mom's birthday but you know, time differences and all—I was going to visit."

Blaise held up a hand, shushing his son. "I know, Jack. Mind letting your old man in? The chill isn't good for my bones," he grinned.

"Oh! Right, right…of course."

Jack swung the door open fully, letting his dad into the room. He scratched the back of his neck, frozen hair perfect as always, and watched his dad gaze around.

"I know it's not really clean, but I…ah, I wasn't expecting visitors."

"It was a spur of the moment thing. Nice place, Son."

"Thanks," Jack said, slamming the door shut and putting his hands in his pockets. "It-it-it's my humble adobe, my man cave, so to speak."

_And some man cave it was_, Blaise thought.

The main living and dining area was open concept, the kitchen separated by a half-wall of sorts. The place had a rustic, classic winter chalet theme to it with a modern twist; the wooden floors were shiny and the lightest of pine, a gas fire place in the center burning brightly. The far wall was all windows, the view spectacular…and Jack had _impeccable_ taste in man cave décor—a foosball table, pool table, dart board and decent sized bar fully stocked, glasses neatly dangling from a rack above it, were behind the entertainment area. A hallway led to the bathroom and bedrooms, two of Jack's famous icy plants flanking the doorways.

Jack smiled, proud of himself. His father approved of the condo—this was a success.

"Oh! Where are my manners Dad, let me take your coat," Jack said, rushing to his side. Silently Blaise tossed Jack his coat, his hair reigniting (can't walk through town with a head of flames, that was likely to cause a panic…or give him some good tips, depending on how rusty his Swedish was) as he walked into the spacious apartment. He tapped the granite counters, impressed, glancing into the modern kitchen. Slowly he walked around the apartment, stopping by the windows to check out the view and admiring the fully packed bar.

"Feel free to make yourself at home, I guess," Jack mumbled, taking a seat on one of the sleek black leather couches and picking up his martini.

"Don't mind if I do," Blaise mumbled, helping himself to a glass and some ice and pouring a decanter of whiskey. He made his way to the living room in the center of it all, whistling at the nice HD television and sitting himself in the leather chair opposite Jack's. Sitting in similar posses, the men sipped their drinks, both awkward as can be.

"So if you weren't here to ground me or whatever," Jack began, Blaise snickering (grounding his forty hundred and something year old son? Ha, funny joke if there ever was one), "then what brings you to the lovely Gstaad?"

"Well it _is_ your Mother's birthday that brought me here," Blaise murmured. "Just…not to reprimand you or anything." Blaise finished his glass, getting up to refill it.

"Allow me," Jack said.

"How kind," Blaise replied, noticing his son's glass needed refreshing as well. He chuckled silently, watching Jack scurry to the bar and begin mixing.

"So if I'm not in trouble because of it, what about Mother's birthday brought you here?" Jack asked, joining Blaise by the pool table. The heat sprite had begun to set the balls up in the triangular rack, lining them up properly and setting the cue ball down. Placing down the drinks Jack grabbed two pool sticks, handing one off to Blaise.

"Would you like to break?" Blaise asked.

"I don't know, my skill might intimidate you," Jack replied.

"Phish posh," Blaise scoffed. "I'll sink every solid in under five minutes."

"I'd like to see _that._"

"If you insist." Taking the lead, the fiery man aimed and shot. The balls spread around the table; three solids were sunk. Grinning and bowing, Blaise gestured to the table. "Your move, Son."

"Good, we need to deflate that ego of yours a bit."

"Look who's talking."

"I had to get it from somewhere."

Blaise laughed heartily, enjoying this moment of bonding with his son. Two stripes went in; Jack swore—his Dad had sunk more.

"Language young man."

The icy sprite raised an eyebrow, watching his father pace around the table, trying to figure out what way to shot the cue ball was the best for his game. "So tell me Blaise, what is it about Mother's birthday that brings you here?"

Thrown off guard as he shot, the balls bounced off each other, none of them going in. Blaise sighed. "It was your sister's idea, really."

"Which one?"

Blaise arched an eyebrow.

"Dumb question, sorry. So the little flurry sent you here because of Mom's birthday. You've neglected to say why, Dad." Jack took his shot, one of his stripes going in.

"It's…well, you're going to think it's silly," Blaise said.

"I highly doubt that. What, can you not decide on a gift to get her or something?"

The silence that followed answered his question.

"Gods Dad, are you serious? You came here because you don't know what to get Mom?"

"It's an annual thing," Blaise began. "I never know what to get her. I mean, she's had so many birthdays and honestly if I didn't get her anything, she'd be perfectly happy anyway. But I love that woman to death and I try to make every year special for her."

"Heartwarming. Truly! I'm not being sarcastic. I mean, having your Dad in your condo gushing about how much he adores your Mom like a teenaged school boy is of course gross but it really is heartwarming."

Blaise shrugged. "I ask the kids every year and usually we think of something. But none of the suggestions this year were any good."

"Really?"

"Fiera wanted me to burn your Mother's name into the ocean with a series of volcanic islands."

Jack nearly chocked on his drink. "High maintenance, that little hothead," he said, chortling as he took his shot.

"Yeah. Fino said a necklace would be nice but I don't know, I think it's too small for this year. It's a special year, you know."

"Age milestone?"

"It's not special because of an age milestone. Good Goddess of the Springs, if we kept track of ages…"

"Then what's so special?"

"You're back home. We're whole. Your Mother is happy."

Jack was quiet, humbled by his father's blunt and honest statement. "Oh."

"So you see why I can't just make this like any other birthday," Blaise said.

Jack frowned, deep in thought. "I'm not quite sure how you could make Winterfest any bigger, to be quite honest."

"Winterfest?"

"You know, the annual holiday in which we celebrate the coming of the new season, which falls on the birthdays of the Seasons, in Crystal Springs? Aunt Summer, Autumn and Spring all have one. Summer Solstice, Vernal Equinox, Autumn Equinox…Mom's is the Winter Solstice—today—and we throw Winterfest back at home."

"I know what it is Jack. I just…threw me off guard is all."

"How come? Surely you still do that at home…don't you?"

"No. After you left…we stopped." Blaise sighed, sinking his last few balls and sitting in a chair, slumped. Jack had timed Blaise—it took him five and a half minutes—but he didn't quite feel like gloating anymore.

"Oh," he said, placing his stick back on the rack.

"Yeah," Blaise replied.

The silence stretched on, both men deep in thought. The gears in Jack's head were turning…he had an idea.

"Why not bring Winterfest back then?"

"What?"

"You heard me! Bring back the festival. Have the fires at night and the inaugural first snowfall officially done by Mother and the ice skating and hot chocolate and competitions…"

"You know, that's not a bad idea…"

"I never have a bad idea," Jack boasted. "All of them are brilliant. Well, mostly," he added as an afterthought.

"All the planning though…it takes weeks of preparation. I'd have to do that in a day—not even a day, a couple of hours! It's nearly impossible!"

"Nothing is impossible for a Frost," Jack began. "You put down a millennium long war and established Crystal Springs as we know it today. I invented chill. Jacqueline created Frosty the Snowman, fought off our crazy Uncle's evil mental influence every second she was under it, Mother caused an ice age! Everyone back at home adores you and Mother and Jacqueline and even those little hotheaded twins, Dad. If you tell the Assembly then I think they will be more than happy to pitch in and set it all up. It would be wonderful! Oh I can smell the hot cocoa already, feel the chill in the air as Mother gathers the first snow of the season…"

"Maybe you're right…"

"Maybe? I think you mean _most definitely_. Just think of how happy Winter will be!" Jack said, gleefully.

It was that mental image of Winter on the top of the Town Hall, surrounded by her family as she whipped up the good old first winter storm of the season that did it for Blaise. It would be perfect.

"Let's do it!" He said, jumping up eagerly. "It will be the biggest, best Winterfest and the best surprise to ever grace the face of this planet! Let your sister know we're coming. We have some scheming to do," Blaise said, gathering his coat and disappearing out of the room in a large flame.

Jack blinked at the smoke where his Dad was moments ago. He was excited too but one thing had just occurred to him.

They were going to surprise Winter with the festival. The whole city would be prepping, she'd clue in in no time if she stuck around the city. They'd need to distract her, somehow. Jack cringed, trying to figure out how they'd go about doing this.

_This surprise may be harder than we believe_, he thought, disappearing in a flurry of dark blue sparks and snowflakes to catch up to his Dad.

* * *

**A/N-Greetings from England! It;s nearly 11 at night here and I;ve been excavating all day. I'm exhausted and I have a HUGE paper/field journal thing to write but instead, I finished this Smile Shot I started in _December_. I've incorporated some more lore into this smile shot. The Season Sisters birthdays are on their respective equinox/solstice; though the people of CS know every religion is true they have their own religion, a Goddess who created and protects the Springs as well as all of them. I;m very proud of that, still working on it but I'm SUPER proud of it :D. So let it be known here that Winter's Birthday is December 21st lovelies. And this is looking to be a Three Parter, I think! So be excited!**

**Anyway sorry for the absence, it got busy as all frick frack here. The course I'm taking is a specialized field school and we squish a lot into six weeks. Hectic let me tell you. Dark Shadows hasn't been touched in a while, so update will be slow there; Frostmas is still on hold. I may save it for the holiday season, who knows! Fun things are on their way there though ;) Now I'll leave you this white box we all love to gush and whatnot, and then I am going to go to bed. I'm spent. Tell me how you liked this Smile shot! Blaise and Jack's relationship is super fun to explore. In fact, one more important bonding moment happens in between Crystal Springs and Winter's Birthday on the New Years Eve after the events of Crystal Springs (so from 2007-2008). I'll probably write that closer to actual New Years Eve :p. ****If you've updated something and I have not reviewed or contacted me and I haven't replied yet, apologies! I'll get around to catching up as soon as this paper/journal thing is done. Then I'll have time to myself in the evenings after our digs, and then next week the second course starts and I make no promises with how much time I'll have then to write and whatnot, we shall see. Do review! I love hearing from my readers! :D**

**Word Count: 3,120 (Sans A/N and Disclaimers) [Also the longest yet!]**

* * *

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own _The Santa Clause_ movies, nor do I own Jack Frost. I am making no profit off of this; it is purely for my enjoyment and that of my readers. I do however own the city of Crystal Springs, Jack's family-Winter, Blaise, Jacqueline, Fino and Fiera Frost-as well as the lore associated with Crystal Springs (such as the religion and laws and governing body, etc.). Any ressemblance they/it bear to any specific person place or thing is purely coincidental; please do not use my characters without my permission. **


	6. Winter's Birthday Part II: Plotting

**Winter's Birthday: Part II**

Jack appeared just inside the gates of Frost Mansion. They'd been friendlier as year one of his return home went by. Considering they had actually let him teleport _behind_ themselves, Jack had finally won their affection. Either that or they were being nice because it was Winter's birthday, or because Blaise had told them too.

Thanking the gates either way, Jack sped up the path, catching up to his Dad as he opened the door.

"Hello!" Blaise called out. "I'm home! And I brought something with me!"

"I am not a _thing_," Jack protested, Blaise snickering.

"JACK!" The two fiery children ran through the hallway, straight for their brother.

"We're gonna melt you this time!" Fiera shouted.

"Not on your life," Jack said, grabbing both of them in a giant bear hug and picking them up. He roared, amidst much giggles.

"Hey Frosty," Jacqueline said, making her way down the hall.

"What's up, Slushy?"

"Oh nothing much, just cooked the best breakfast for Mom. Since it is _such a_ big, _special_ day for her."

"Oh I am well aware of it, where is she anyway?"

"Jack dear, how lovely to see you!" Winter said, walking out of the kitchen—still in her pajamas.

"Mother! Happy Birthday! You know, you don't look a day over twenty hundred," Jack said, dropping the twins and hugging his Mom. He glanced at his sister over Winter's shoulder, gesturing to the blue parlour with his head. She followed his line of sight, frowning.

Winter giggled. "You flatter me, Jack," she said, grinning. "You made it just in time for Breakfast! Well, the last bit. Jacqueline really outdid herself!"

"Did she now?" Jack said, eyebrow raised.

Jacqueline smirked and winked, as if to say _try and top that one_.

"Well I'll be the judge of _that_. Shall we then?" Jack said, gently shoving the youngest two forward

_What are you doing Jack?_ Blaise said mentally, nearly startling Jack (Blaise _rarely_ used his mental connection with the kids).

_Setting plans in motion._

Understanding lit in Blaise's eyes; he jumped into action. "Yes, we've kept you waiting for much too long Winter darling," he said, grabbing Winter's arm and walking alongside her—effectively distracting her. Jack trailed behind, his sister beside him perhaps more confused than she had been before. As soon as the rest of the family disappeared into the kitchen, Jack grabbed his Legate and nearly threw her into the parlour. Closing the French doors behind them, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, _that's_ what you meant." Jacqueline realized.

"Normally that's what a conspicuous look _means_," Jack replied.

"Well excuse me. You could've just said we need to chat!"

"In front of Mom?"

"Oh my gods you blizzard brain," his sister said, tapping her head.

"Ah. Yes that…that didn't occur to me."

"I can see that," the brunette said, plopping down on one of the sofas, still in her jammies. "So what's got you all distracted? Did Dad not figure out his gift problem with you?"

"Well not exactly." Jack sat down across his sister, hand on his chin and deep in thought. "Long story short, we're throwing Winterfest again."

"We're doing what now?"

"Surely you remember Winterfest, Jacqueline."

"Of course. Well, vaguely. Ice skating mostly. Snow, lots of it and food too…that one time I beat you in that snowball fight…"

"You were three hundred and ninety something, I let you win."

"Well if we're serious about throwing Winterfest again, a rematch could always tell who the true champion really is."

"You're on," Jack said, competitive look back in his eyes briefly. "It's just a matter of getting it together. Winterfest takes weeks of preparation! I'm sure the whole town will pitch in to help out, but if they do that…"

"Mom will catch on quickly. And if we want it to be a surprise, we can't let her see."

"Exactly. So we need to do…a lot, really. Dad is going to talk to the Assembly. I can talk to the Council, they'll want to help out too."

"Don't forget the Pole. I know they're busy but they might be able to give us a helping hand."

"Right," Jack said, getting up now and pacing. "If everyone helps out we can throw everything together in four or five hours, tops. Start the celebration near Dinner time, have that huge feast…It's just a matter of keeping Winter out of the know."

"And that is where I come in. When will you know exactly how long it will take?"

"After I talk to the Council. I'm sure Baldy could give us a good estimate."

"Alright. Once you find that out, tell me. The four of us will be in charge of distracting Mom. You and I will take an hour and a half each, the twins can take three hours together. Those'll be our gifts to her."

"Oh, smart. But I'll need to help out Dad," Jack pointed out.

Jacqueline rolled her eyes. "First off, it'll look suspicious if you don't take a shift. Secondly, I have the same magical arsenal as you do, I'm sure Dad won't mind my help while you distract Mom. In fact, he may even prefer it," Jacqueline said, grinning mischievously.

Biting back several sassy comebacks, Jack sighed. "Fine. You make a convincing argument. Now we have to decide who goes when and one of us will have to tell those fiery demons what the plan is."

"Don't worry, I can take care of those hotheads," Jacqueline said.

"Then it's settled. You let them know about the plan, then we'll figure out who distracts first. I have the perfect idea already, she's going to love my gift!"

"We'll see about that! I can and _will_ out do you in a heartbeat."

"Oh _please_."

"Sacred, old man?"

"Of a little flurry like you? Not on your _life_."

"Just you wait, blizzard brain. Just you _wait_."

And with a wink, Jacqueline hopped off the couch and to the kitchen.

* * *

Breakfast was about as eventful as usual that day, though everyone fawned over Winter more so than usual—after all, it was her birthday. The Twins started a food fight and cutlery went flying under the table; Jacqueline had gone under to retrieve the flung silver, the Twins following. Jack distracted his parents, hoping they wouldn't notice how long his siblings took to get the cutlery. As soon as they came back up, Jacqueline winking and the Twins staring at each other as if in silent conversation, before nodding and turning to Winter.

"So Mom, Fino and I had this great idea for your birthday!"

"Really now?"

"Yeah! We're going to go for a nice walk through the forests!"

"Nature hike! Nature hike!"

"Fino's excited," Fiera said, mouthful of sausage.

"My gift is the best," Jack said.

"What is it?" Jacqueline asked.

"Like I'd tell you, you'd just try to out do me."

"Oh I _know_ I'm going to."

"No, ours is gonna be the best!"

The kids started bickering amongst themselves; Winter smiled.

"The kids thought it would be a great idea to each take you somewhere special today," Blaise began.

"I can see that," Winter said. "No snowballs at the table Jack, not after the bacon incident."

Jack grumbled, snowball disappearing.

"_Jack got in tr-ouble_," Fiera sang.

"Snowballs aren't outlawed anywhere else, missy."

"I ain't afraid of you!"

"As sweet as that idea is Blaise dear, I really much rather stay at home—"

"Nonsense Mother!" Jack said, his sibling feud forgotten. "A woman such as yourself deserves to see the world! And that's why I'm taking you somewhere special as soon as I take care of some business up North. You know those pesky walls," Jack said, smiling.

"Well, if you insist. But I really think—"

"Perfect! You go get ready and rest up Mother, we'll leave in an hour! Dress comfortably, may be a little bit of walking involved," he said with a wink, getting up and walking out to the hall.

"I—oh, alright Jack. I'll be ready."

"Perfect! I will see you all in a bit," Jack said, disappearing in snowflakes and blue sparks.

"What is he _planning_?" Jacqueline said, brow furrowed.

"No idea but we're gonna beat it," Fiera said.

"Not if I can _first_…"

* * *

Jack poofed right in the middle of Santa's office; he sat at his desk, deep in conversation with Elle and Bernard. The three looked up in shock as Jack started rummaging around the room, frowning.

"Uh, Jack?"

"Oh! Santa! Hello, how's it going? Don't mind me, I'm just looking for a certain little bell…am I interrupting something important?"

"Yes," said Santa.

"Kind of," said Elle.

"Bit of both," Bernard said.

"Ah. Well then carry on, don't mind me, I'm not going to ruin Christmas or whatever."

"Wait, what do you mean a little bell? You want to call a council meeting?"

"Uh, yes. Sort of."

"Don't you have your own bell?"

"I misplaced it. Not sure if it's in Gstaad or Crystal Springs or…neither of those places. _Excuse_ me, I need to get behind your desk."

"Why do you need to call a meeting? We just had our seasonal Council last week! And step off, it's _my_ desk."

"Well it's kind of an important day," Jack said. "I will not step off, it's _our_ desk. Best friend privileges, you overcooked gingerbread house."

"Oh right! The Winter Solstice! Tell your Mom I said Happy Birthday," Bernard said.

"Can do, later today…aha! Here it is!"

Santa grabbed the bell before Jack could ring it, staring at the sprite. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm with Santa on this one," Elle said. "What's going on?"

"It's the Winter Solstice!" Jack began, exasperated. "First day of winter? It's basically her birthday. Actually, we celebrate all the season's birthdays on their respective solstices or equinoxes. Anyway apparently my Father has a dilemma each year, of the gift giving sort. So I suggested we throw Winterfest again—did you know it had been called off, Bernard?"

"Yes, mainly because of you," Bernard said, amused as he watched Jack struggle to grab the bell from Santa, who held it up high.

"Thanks for reminding me, bean head," he said, briefly stopping. "Well anyway," he continued, now attempting to climb Santa, "I'm gonna need fifty of your best cocoa makers."

"This close to Christmas?" Elle asked.

"I can probably get Judy and Abby to figure something out," Bernard said "It is fairly close to the big day though, and we do need all the help we have."

"I know, I know. Jacqueline said that may be my answer."

"Tell her I said hi," Elle said, still confused.

"Wait, what?" Santa asked. "And who are you calling an overcooked gingerbread house you overstuffed snowman?"

"Oh. That was a good one," Jack replied, Santa smirking briefly.

"I think what Santa means to ask is what, exactly, is Winterfest. And fifty, really? I think we could easily half that."

"Elle, it is only the single most fun day in the year! Crystal Springs comes together to celebrate the coming of the new season. A party is thrown country wide in honour of the season, the city itself the heart of the celebration! Winterfest is, of course, exclusively winter themed. In the afternoon we kick off with fort building competitions, snowball fights, we make some fresh maple taffy in the snow and have a lovely feast together. Then as the sun sets, Winter calls in the first _official_ snowfall of the winter season and we spend the night drinking cocoa and having warm fires, sharing stories and good tidings. It's very cheery, you know, very rah-rah and what have you."

"Could we go?" Elle asked.

"Of course! It includes the…_tiny _people of the North Pole. And your family too, Santa. Now I need that bell, since I have to get everything together without Winter knowing and Blaise is keeping her distracted until I can take over and he can direct the townsfolk. I need to tell the Council about our plans so we can get as much help as possible to pull this off! I really, really want this to work out," Jack finished, staring at Santa earnestly.

Santa blinked, taking it all in. "But the issue we were having!"

"Santa, it's just a Rudolph. It can wait," Bernard said.

"Please Santa? It's really important to me and I'm sure I'm on the nice list this year, right?" Jack said, his most charming smile on his face.

Santa sighed. "Fine, here you go," he said, passing the bell to Jack. "We'll help you out as much as we can. Now stop trying to schmooze Santa, you've got a meeting to run."

"Oh thank you, Santa. This means so much to me," Jack said, ringing the bell gleefully and whispering a message as it rang, to send to the rest of the Council. "Now about that nice list thing."

"Please Jack, your name is frozen onto the naughty list."

"A man can dream," Jack muttered, secretly proud. "A man can dream."

* * *

Though the meeting came as a surprise to most of the Council, especially one called and headed by Jack, the moment he told them about their idea and all the help he and Blaise needed, everyone was on board. Father Time estimated that with everyone's help, the best time it would take would be about six hours or so. His eyes crinkled and he chuckled which infuriated Jack, because more often than not that meant that things wouldn't go smoothly or something puzzling would work its way out of his mouth and really, it was all _very_ annoying.

But he had kept his cool; unlike Blaise, he didn't have flaming hair to give him away as it were. Mother Nature set off as soon as the meeting adjourned in order to rally his Aunts and call an Assembly under the radar. Cupid said he'd take care of beverages for everyone; apparently some of the gods owed him a few favours. Santa and Bernard said they'd send some elves off to Crystal Springs later on for the cocoa making, and Tooth Fairy, Sandman and Easter Bunny promised to lend a hand in other areas if need be.

Needless to say, Jack was feeling pretty great when he got back to Frost Mansion.

"You're looking smug," Jacqueline noted.

"I'm just relishing in having the best gift for Mom," he replied.

"Bull sleet, mine is going to be way better. Seriously though, how did it go?"

"Well, Santa's sending some cocoa makers over later today, Father Time is a mysterious old man as usual, and Mother Nature is already rallying the troops. Dad should head out soon."

"He already has. What did Father Time say?"

"Six hours should be all we need. He also did the look."

"You're joking."

"Nope. That cryptic look, you know—"

"—where he crinkles his eyes and smiles because he knows something we don't know?"

"Exactly."

"I hate that look, it always means trouble."

Jack smiled. It was times like this, when he and Jacqueline had a kindred spirit moment that made him remember how heartwarming it was to be home.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because my trip with Mom is going to be the _best_."

"We'll see about that, you arrogant snowstorm."

"I ain't afraid of no flurry—ah! Mother, there you are! All set to go?"

"More or less," Winter said. She wore a simple blue long sleeve dress, her hair up in its usual bun. She held a long white woolen jacket in her arms. "Your father left quite suddenly. Something came up with the Assembly," she murmured, concerned.

"They couldn't have picked a worse day," Jack said.

"Oh, I don't mind, really! He is a busy man—"

"You're not kidding, Jacqueline murmured. "Now off with you two! We'll be here waiting for our turns, behaving and such…"

"Nothing suspicious here!" Fino shouted from what sounded like the den.

"Don't mind us at all!" Fiera added.

"This concerns me," Winter said.

"Mother, you must relax. Chill! It's your special day! I'm sure Jacqueline will be fine with those two hot headed brats. Shall we?" Jack held out his arm.

"Be nice to your siblings, Jack," Winter replied, grabbing the crook of his arm. "Off we go then, I suppose. For sure everything is alright Jacqueline?"

"Yes, of course! Now off you go Mom, enjoy your time with Jack while you can because I'm sure what he has planned is _nothing_ compared to what I have planned," Jacqueline grinned, practically shoving her Mother and Brother out of the house.

"Alright then, take care dear. I'll see you all later."

"Ta," Jack said, sticking his tongue out and disappearing with Winter in a flurry of snowflakes.

"If I don't top that abominable snowman I am going to loose my sleet," Jacqueline huffed heading back inside to the den.

It was time for a game plan.

* * *

**A/N-Hello friends I am back from essay hell! It's frightful over there, let me tell you. Tis the season and I've been meaning to get the rest of winter's Birthday up (which may end up being four parts...opps? ;D)**

**Before any ramblings I want to give a shoutout to whoever it was that used the idea of Rudolph not being one single reindeer but a type of reindeer that is born with a glowing nose; I read the fic ages ago and can't recall who it is so if you know who it is or it is you, I hope you don't mind me taking that nugget of headcanon and using it here! I thought it was a super cool idea, especially with this world's clauses and what have you.**

**Smile Shots will be updating throughout the holiday season, Frostmas as well; Dark Shadows is a bit on hold at the moment, and you can expect to see major edits to Meet the Frosts by next week, as well as with Crystal Springs later on in the month. Now if you'll excuse me, time to veg out on the couch with a breezer and Christmas movies, I am _exhausted_.**

**Word Count (Sans A/N and Disclaimers): 2,935 (I thought it would be the longest but Winter's Birthday Part I still takes the cake!)**

* * *

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own the Santa Clause movies, nor do I own JAck Frost, Bernard, Santa, Mother Nature or any other canonical characters mentioned above. I am making no profit off of this, it is purely for the enjoyment of myself and my readers. I do, however, own Crystal Springs, the associated lore and laws behind it, as well as the Frost Family-Blaise, Winter, Jacqueline, Fino and Fiera Frost. Any resembalance bear to any real person, place or thing is purely coincidental; please do not use my characters without my permission.**

**I also do not own Elle. She belongs to the lovely Ana, aka etiquette-faux-pas. I am merely borrowing Ms. Connelly and have promised to give her back (relatively) unharmed.**

**And lastly, the idea of _a_ Rudolph versus _the_ Rudolph is not my own; it belongs to a wonderful writer whom I cannot seem to recall/find, but the credit should be given where it is due nonetheless. To that writer, kudos and I hope you don't mind my useage of it! **


	7. When Bernard Met Jacqueline

"Up! Up!" The little sprite shouted, her arms stretched out.

"Alright, alright," Jack said, grinning. He picked her up and threw her onto his shoulders. She giggled, grasping his frozen hair tightly.

"Careful! That's freeze dried."

"When can I learn how to do that?" She asked, leaning over his head to look into his identical blue eyes. Her dark brown plaits covered his eyes briefly. He held her waist tightly, making sure she didn't fall forwards.

"Soon. Now get back up there, you don't wanna get hurt."

"Okay!"

Jack grinned. Jacqueline was perhaps the only thing in his life right now totally stopping him from lashing out at the other Legends. Times were tough, which was why he found himself here at the North Pole in _April_. The kinks of the new Law, known as the Legate Law, had been worked out and today the members of the Council who had a Legate had met to officially inaugurate the small Legates.

It had been…something. Tooth Fairy had come with his very small son, only a baby fae. Cupid came with a fairly tall six-hundred or so girl, his niece. Aunt Spring was there too, of course; as were Day and Night. Now they were a strange duo. Gave Jack the willies. They stared at everyone like they knew everything. Which they probably did. Sandman was there with his son, who was between Jacqueline's age and Cupid's niece's age. He tried to remember her name—Voluptas? Hedone? It was one of the two, though she said to them that she called herself Aphrodite because she liked it better than her name and also it bothered Venus. Jack had laughed; so had Cupid. Probably of course the only thing that had gone well in the meeting.

Not that it hadn't gone well; Jack was just…none too thrilled with one of the Figures at the moment.

Everyone in the Council had a Legate except for Santa, of _course_. It was always him. He was _special_, he had a Clause, a special pact with Kris Kringle and later Saint Nick, so he couldn't have a Legate. Whatever. Jack thought they should all be treated equally, but evidently nobody else agreed because Santa's uniqueness made perfect sense to them, of course. Why host the meeting up North if Santa didn't even _need_ a Legate?

"Because it is the safest location for us right now," Mother Nature had said, referring to the disappearances of Sandman's Grandfather and Tooth's Dad that had caused this whole special law to be made in the _first place!_

The man made toys, how special could he be? Jack hailed a whole entire season! He was way more unique than the fat man in the suit, way more powerful! He also unobjectively had the best Legate.

Jack and Jacqueline had gone third, after Mother Nature and Spring, and Father Time and Day and Night. Then they had called a quick break. Already the two siblings were learning weird things about this Legate thing. They suddenly had a much stronger mental connection; he could hear her thoughts fairly easily. She currently had an unknown song playing on repeat in her head.

"Well you're very sing-song today Jacqueline," he said.

"We passed music! It was fun! But now it won't get out of my head!"

"I noticed."

"Jack," said a familiar, irritating voice. Bernard was approaching, walking very fast, his lips pursed.

"Bean pole," Jack replied. He could feel his sister hugging the top of his head, watching them with interest.

"Council's reconvening. I know you've already been sworn in, but Mother Nature would like you to be there for the remainder."

Jack sighed. "Fine. I'm on my way."

"That was easier than I thought," Bernard said, walking away.

_"That was easier than I thought"_ Jack mimicked, sticking his tongue out at Bernard's retreating form.

"Down! Down!"

"But you just wanted up."

"Well now I want _down_," Jacqueline said. "Please." she put her arms around his neck, winging herself down from his shoulders and succeeding in nothing but hanging off of Jack's neck.

"Easy, _easy_. I'm super chill, not super fast." He grabbed her waist and placed her down.

"Who was that?"

"That was Santa's Number One Elf," Jack said, dryly.

"I liked his hat. I want his hat. Can I go put on his hat?"

Jack grinned. "Why, of course! His name is Bernie. He _loves_ that name! You go catch up to him and get that hat. Just don't get lost, okay?"

"Yay!" Jacqueline said, rushing after the Head Elf.

"Have fun now," Jack said. As soon as his sister was out of view, his smile dropped—it was time to put a little salt in the old man's cookies, as it were.

* * *

The year was 526 CE. Hunting down all of the Legends and their Legates was exhausting. They were all over the place as per the norm—after all, this was the North Pole. Jack had been last on his list; now he was back to doing his rounds, since Santa wasn't really needed at the meeting, not with the clause. In fact, Bernard was fairly surprised that the Legendary Figures didn't have a safe guard in place _prior_ to these disappearances.

He was trying really hard not to think too much about the Legate Law as it was being called. Mainly because he found the concept fascinating and wondered how the transfer of powers would work. What happened when the Legends got a Legate? Did new powers happen? Did they connect differently? It was all very fascinating.

"Bernie Bernie Bernie!" A voice shouted, interrupting his thoughts (probably a good thing—if he thought about how the Legate Law worked all day he would get nothing done, sans major speculation). He turned around and saw Jack's Legate running towards him, arms out.

"Hey there kid. That's not my name." He said gently, biting back the _don't call me Bernie_ he was so use to saying.

The girl skid to a halt. "It's not?"

"Nope. My name is Bernard."

"Oh. That makes sense."

"It does?"

"Mhmm! Sometimes Jack tells me something but its not a thing that _everyone_ knows it's just something _Jack_ knows. Can I wear your hat?"

"Sure thing, kid," Bernard said, thrown off a tad. He put the hat on her head, much to the joy of the little girl.

"What are you doing now?"

"I'm just gonna check up on all the elves," Bernard said.

"Can I go with you?"

"You should get back to that meeting with your brother," Bernard began, staring at the girl.

"Okay." She looked around and saw Jack had gone. "I don't know where he is," she said.

"Let's go look for him then. He probably hasn't gone back to the meeting either, especially since he's lost you," Bernard said.

"Okay!" she said, grabbing his hand. "So I don't get double lost!"

"That is a very good idea Jacqueline, thank you."

"That's my name! How did you know? ARE YOU SANTA?"

"No, I just know _lots_ of things. It's why I'm number one, kid," he said, winking, the sprite giggling.

"This place is soo big," she said. "And soo old I bet! How old is it?"

"Well the workshop is two or three hundred. Almost as old as me! But the North Pole has existed for much longer than that. Since before the war even."

Jacqueline gasped. "I'm older than the Workshop!"

"Really?" Bernard said.

"I'm four hundred and thirty-one!"

"You're even older than _me_!"

"Really? Wow!"

Bernard grinned. This kid was quite possibly the happiest little snowflake he had ever met. It was a very refreshing change from her brother, that was for sure. Bernard frowned for a moment. Had he really thought that the kid would be just like her brother? That hadn't been fair of him, especially considering how different they were now that he had met Jacqueline. He found himself listening intently to her chatter while searching the Workshop for Jack and doing his rounds. So far everything seemed more or less normal. And the kid was sticking by his side, chattering away.

"His snowman was really scary so I made one and the snowman came awake and said "happy birthday!" so I said no you silly, it's not my birthday! I named him Frosty. After Jack."

"After Jack?"

"Yeah! Cause he's all Frosty on the out, you know?"

"Oh I know, alright."

"Abominable was not fun. He almost hurt Frosty seven whole times! Jack really liked Abominable though," The kid said, frowning.

"What's wrong kiddo?"

The sprite shrugged. "I can't word."

"Hey, that's okay. Sometimes I can't word either. Sometimes feelings are weird, and you can't really find a word for them, or a proper thought when we try to figure them out. But you can always try."

She puffed up her cheeks, thinking. "Jack gets mean to people sometimes. But not to me. But it's still scary."

Bernard gave the little sprite's hand a squeeze. "He's not that scary, kid. He's just an overstuffed snowman. You remember that, alright?"

That got a giggle out of the sprite. "Alright."

"Good. So, are you excited for Christmas?" He asked, changing the subject as they rounded on construction, watching the many doll houses be assembled.

The little sprite's eyes lit up. "Yes! Very! It's lotsa fun at home! We get two whole trees! One is for us to make all winter and the other one is for normal Christmas looks! It's red and green and very BIG and it's right in the middle of the ballroom!"

"You have a ballroom?"

"Yup. But there's no balls. Just slidey floors that are not suppose to be ice rinks. That's what Daddy says, at least. Momma agrees but she liked the last one I did. She says she'd rather have it there than in the foy-foyie-front hallway or kitchen. But if it's not suppose to have ice, then why is it slidey already without ice?"

"We have a ballroom here too, _with_ balls. It's very cool, wanna see?"

"Sure!"

Bernard grinned, veering right and stopping in front of the doors to the ball room. Jacqueline grinned, pressing up against the glass.

"Look at all the bouncies! Can we go in?"

"Very quickly. Sometimes the balls escape and they bounce all over the place, and it's always a mess," Bernard said. The ball stampedes were the worst—they had been trying to make them less bouncy as of late to avoid the problem. After all, it wasn't great to work when bouncy balls would fly at you, uncontained.

"Then we'll just peek!"

"Stay close to me kid, okay?"

"Okay," she said, hugging his leg. Bernard opened the door a bit, letting the sprite scamper in front of him and peer in. She shrieked.

"What's wrong? Did one of them hit you?"

"NO! There's just so many! Look at them all! Bounce, bounce!"

Bernard breathed a sigh of relief. He scanned the ballroom himself, making sure Jack wasn't in there waiting to unleash the cavalry. About 6 out of 8 of the last year's stampedes were courtesy of the sprite himself.

"Alright, I think that's enough. We still gotta find your brother."

"Right," Jacqueline said, bouncing in place. "Can you tell Santa I want a bouncy ball?"

"Of course, kid. He probably already knows—what's wrong?"

The sprite had stopped bouncing, her face sad. "Jack did a bad," she whispered.

"Wait, what?"

"Bernard! Bernard! We have a problem!" Judy came running down the hall, her hat a little on the frosty side.

"Oh no. What did he do?"

"Santa's office is frozen solid."

Bernard pinched the bridge of his nose. "Was anyone else in there?"

"No, I was just dropping off his midday cocoa when it got really cold. I raced the frost out but I still got a little hit." she turned around and sure enough, her back had a light layer of frost on it—not just her hat.

"Okay, you go warm up. I'll go deal with Jack." He heard a sniffle, and saw that the little sprite that had been following him around was crying. "Hey Jacqueline, it's okay. C'mon, let's go get your brother."

When the sprite didn't move, Bernard found himself picking her up and heading towards Santa's office. The hallway was much chillier when he got there. He put her down a little way away and approached the raised voices.

"Jack this is really quite uncouth, even for you."

"I was just testing you! Keeping you on your toes."

"By freezing my office?"

"_Seriously_ Jack?"

"Oh, great, it's _you_."

Bernard glared at the sprite. "The feeling is mutual I assure you," he began. "You were suppose to go back to the meeting!"

"I would have but A) it's boring and B) my Legate and I have already been sworn in so _what's the point_?"

"Do you even know where your Legate is?" Santa asked Jack.

"I just let her scamper off. You know how it is, kids will be kids."

Bernard and Santa shared a look. "That was very irresponsible of you Jack. She could have been seriously injured! This is not a place for kids."

"Which is really ironic Santa, since everything here is geared _towards_ them."

"Okay that's more than enough outta you, Frost. Santa, I'll get some of the elves to start melting your office. Now as for you Jack—"

Santa put up a hand, stopping Bernard. "Not to worry, Bernard. I shall take Jack back to the meeting myself. I'm sure Mother Nature will be able to properly deal with him. Would you mind bringing his Legate by momentarily? I don't think it is necessary for her to be there just yet."

"Of course, Santa," Bernard said.

"Thank you. Alright Jack, let's get going."

"You know, if you had a Legate than maybe your office wouldn't have been frozen. What if something had happened to you?"

"I find I am in agreement with Bernard. That is _more_ than enough, Jack."

Bernard watched them turn the corner. This Santa had a lot of patience for the meddlesome winter sprite, almost as much as Nicholas had had. Sighing, he began to think of the best way to melt Santa's office. Perhaps he would just call Jack's Dad, that may do the trick. He turned around, his eyes settling on the smaller sprite, who sat curled up in fetal position against the wall, crying.

"Hey Jacqueline, it's okay. I'm sure Jack won't get into too much trouble," he lied.

"S'not that," the sprite said, her eyes teary. "Jack did a _bad,_ Bernard. He does the bads more and more and I'm—I'm_ scared_ that he'll do a really big bad."

"Well if he does a really big bad, I'll personally see to it that he gets in big trouble. Like right on the naughty list trouble. Promise."

The sprite wiped her nose on her sleeve, smiling. "Okay. Thank you Bernard," she said, hugging him. He hugged her back tightly, trying to ignore the fact that snot was definitely all over his shirt now.

* * *

When he returned Jacqueline to the meeting room, everything had quieted down. Jack was sulking in the corner and Tooth Fairy and his son Myles were being sworn in. He gave her one last hug before sending her off to her brother, despite every fibre of his being telling him to not to. Elf intuition, if you will.

She nudged Jack's leg. The sprite glanced down, smiling and lifting her up, putting her back on his shoulders when she motioned quietly to go up. She felt the top of her head and gasped, pulling off Bernard's hat. She caught his eye quickly, and threw the hat at him with enough force that it landed fairly hard on his face.

She grinned and waved bye, and as Bernard tapped two fingers on his head and back at her, in a tiny goodbye salute, he decided that if he could, he would do what he could to watch over this kid.

His good old Elf Intuition was telling him that he really, _really_ should.

* * *

The next time they met was about 24 years later.

It began with the rumours in housekeeping. These rumours made their way to hospitality, which then made their way through the kitchen and out into the Workshop, which then made their way to Bernard as he was doing his rounds.

"…so according to her, Santa hasn't heard from Mother Nature in a few days, and she was suppose to meet him to talk about what happened last week."

Last week being Jack's latest shenanigans as he checked up on the Dome, if Bernard recalled correctly. The poor dolls.

"I heard that he hasn't heard from _any_ Legendaries residing in Crystal Springs," another elf replied.

Bernard's Elf Intuition kicked in, and with a sharp turn he rushed past the gossiping boys, headed straight to Santa's office.

* * *

"Santa?"

"Ah Bernard. I was wondering when you would show up."

"I heard some concerning things out on the floor, and I just wanted to cross-check with you, if I may be so bold."

He smiled and gestured Bernard inside, the door closing behind him. "Have a seat."

Bernard gave the chair a pointed stare before sitting down on the very edge.

"Now what have your brethren been saying?"

"That you haven't heard from Mother Nature, or anyone in Crystal Springs for the past three days or so."

"That is correct. About twenty minutes ago, I contacted the Legendaries outside of the continent. None of them have heard from Mother Nature. We need to plan the Spring Conference and that is hard to do when we cannot contact the person who is in charge of arranging it all."

"What did the others say?"

"Ironically enough Sandman ended up being the most helpful. Apparently, something is wrong with Crystal Springs. The continent has been covered in storm clouds, spreading all over the four corners. It is supposedly the strongest in the Northern Province."

"Oh no," Bernard said. That's where Jack's family lived. Immediately, his heart dropped—what had Jack done? Was the kid okay?

"Oh yes, I'm afraid. They're calling it the Day of Darkness, according to Sandman. The day the storm appeared, that is."

"Which was?"

"About three days ago. It has not yet dissipated. I tried getting through to the Northern Province via crystal ball but I could not. I'm quite surprised at how fast word got around, this happened naught but twenty minutes ago."

Bernard shrugged. "Word gets around fast. You've been here for twenty-six years, I'm surprised you've just noticed."

Santa chuckled. "I notice new things every day, despite my age. Perhaps you could do me a favour, Bernard?"

"I'll definitely try."

"I do not know how bad it is over in Crystal Springs, so I do not know if you'll be able to get through. But perhaps you could try?"

"You want me to go check up on things, try to figure out what's wrong?"

"If you can. Though affairs of Crystal Springs do not affect me, I am still quite concerned."

"Of course."

"Try to find someone of authority, or someone who would know what has happened. I think we both know what, or perhaps _whom_ the cause is," Santa said, looking over at Bernard through his spectacles.

"Jack is my guess."

"Precisely."

Bernard had made up his mind. "I'll do it."

"Thank you, Bernard," Santa said. "I greatly appreciate this."

Bernard nodded, getting up and leaving. He knew exactly where to go to get answers: the heart of the storm.

* * *

Teleporting where he needed to go was hard.

The winds whipped, snow flying everywhere. He had appeared a little way away from his mark, which was to be expected with the weather like this. Everything around him appeared to be frozen solid.

he fought the winds all the way up the stone road, stopping in front of a pair of wrought iron gates. When they didn't open, Bernard's concern grew even more. He held out his hands and shot at the gate, lighting it up—it was frozen solid and could not open for him, despite the loud groaning telling him it was trying its hardest.

"Let me help you," Bernard said, as if talking to a gate was perfectly normal. The groaning stopped, nothing but the fierce winter winds around him now. He aimed and blasted the base of the gate with his palms. After a few minutes, Bernard finally heard the gate groaning again, this time actually moving. He nodded as he slid through the smallest opening he could fit through, the gate groaning loudly again once he got through before silence reigned. He squinted ahead. He could barely make it out but he was sure that he was at Frost Mansion. Something on the ground a few paces behind the gate caught his eyes. A large puddle of dark red sat by the gate, three large white spots in the middle of the puddle.

His intuition was right—something very bad had happened.

After several minutes fighting the storm, he finally made it to the veranda. The porch was covered in ice, the roof on the veranda holding icicles bigger than him. He squinted behind him at the pathway, noticing the dried red marks on the stone steps. He knocked on the door loudly, trying really hard to not look back at the spots.

After a few moments, the door opened up, a dishevelled red haired man holding a cup of something strong in front of him.

"Blaise, it's Bernard. Can I come in?"

The man grabbed Bernard by the coat and dragged him in, fighting the wind to close the door. Once the door was closed, the storm's roar turned into a dull, constant whistling.

Bernard took in his surroundings. The large hall was quiet, the rooms all dark. He noticed scorch marks along the walls, some icicles stuck in them as well, large chunks of what was either hail or ice scattering the floor.

"What happened?"

Blaise sighed, motioning for Bernard to follow him. The man was silent; his usually ignited hair was flat and dull on his head, as if he couldn't muster the effort to keep it lit. They went to the kitchen, where Blaise placed a steaming mug in front of him—hot cocoa.

"Warm yourself up first," Blaise began, his voice hoarse. "Jack's storm is relentless."

"So it was Jack," Bernard said.

Blaise nodded; he looked like he was in pain. He had a few scratches on his face, some dried red on his clothing as well. "He finally did it."

"Did what?"

"Left."

"Oh."

"It was only a matter of time. He'd been getting worse and worse as of late. I tried to confront him about it on Monday and, well, that's when all this happened," he said. "Jack pinned his mother to the wall. I got scrapped a few times trying to go after him. I had to shoot at my own son, Bernard. Like it was me and Pyros, all over again."

"Blaise, I…I don't know what to say. I want to apologize, but that feels like it's not enough. What can I do?"

"You getting in is more than enough—we've been cut off from everyone for days now. From what I can tell, Jack whipped up a pretty good ice storm. It's been going since he left, getting more and more fierce. I haven't heard from anyone. We couldn't even rush to get help for…"

Bernard perked up. His heart was pounding. Something _had_ happened to the kid.

"What happened to Jacqueline?"

"I think she may die," Blaise said bluntly. Bernard shot up.

"Don't tell me the…the _blood_ outside was hers."

"By the gate, yes. I had hopped the storm would have washed it away. But I suppose it's just frozen under a thick sheet of ice."

"What did he do to her?!" Bernard demanded, feeling his blood run cold.

"After confronting us, Jacqueline came downstairs. She chased him outside. I got Winter out, and we tried to run after her. But it was too late. All we saw was the snow, the kids a small shadow in the distance. There was a loud scream from Jacqueline, and then Jack disappeared. We rushed down, and she was covered in it. She was out. Barely breathing. We couldn't take her anywhere so she's up on the third floor. We had to move her where it's colder—we were hopping it would help her heal."

"He stabbed her," Bernard said. "the icicles, the clean spots in the red ice…"

"There were three of them. They went right through her. I had to melt them. Winter couldn't remove them. She was too hurt. Physically and emotionally. She's been in bed since, and I've been trying to look after both of them."

"Was there…you know…"

"Rosehaven Magic? Yes. For a while on Tuesday. But it dissipated. And it left Jacqueline behind."

"Then she won't die. If it didn't take her, she's gonna make it through."

"I thought so too. But she still hasn't woken up. The bleeding has stopped; I've been changing the bandages regularly. And Winter…" Blaise sighed. "It's a mess. In the span of three days, I've managed to nearly loose my whole family Bernard. My son is gone, my wife is bedridden, and my daughter might be dying."

"It's going to be okay, Blaise. I know you'll manage to get Winter on her feet again. And if the magic left Jacqueline behind, then we know she won't die. Um, would it be okay if I went up to see her?"

"Yes. Of course. I've been watching her non-stop and could use the break to be with Winter for a bit. If she wakes up, or anything changes, please tell us."

Bernard nodded, getting up and following Blaise's directions to the top floor.

* * *

Bernard opened up the door to the bedroom.

It was big and empty, except for a large round bed covered in blankets and pillows. Candles were lit up all around, casting a warm, bright glow in the room. He walked closer to the bed, finally seeing the small sprite tucked up in the center. Bernard felt her head—she was cold, which was good. Since her core was Winter Magic, the cold would help her heal. Her breathing was more or less even, only a little ragged every so often—but nothing too serious. It seemed Blaise was a decent healer.

Or a least, he had resources. Bernard looked down, noticing the books piled high on a small bedside table. All of them had to do with healing. He also noticed her white pyjamas on the floor beside the table, now ripped in three places and covered in dark stains. He sighed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you, kid."

He grabbed her small hand, giving it a tight squeeze.

She squeezed back.

* * *

After reporting back to Santa and telling him what he planned to do, Bernard kept going back to check up on her. She finally woke up on Thursday and by Sunday, the storm dissipated. Crystal Springs was covered in ice. Now that the storm had stopped, and Bernard was there to watch Jacqueline, Blaise had set out to help melt the continent. He, Summer, and other heat and fire gifted magical people were working very hard to get Crystal Springs running again.

They had gone to the springs first and found them clear of ice already. Immediately Winter had brought Jacqueline to the healing waters. This seemed to be exactly what she needed. After that she was right as rain—just a little slow, since her wounds had not yet healed entirely, and still sentenced by her parents to bedrest. A week after the Day of Darkness, Bernard sat with Jacqueline in her new room, listening to the sprite chatter away.

"I got a scar here, here and here now," she said, pointing to her stomach, then her belly, then the side of her stomach, between both spots. "They look yucky. Daddy says they won't go away, but they will look less yucky. Momma said at the springs that they might be a little bit blue forever."

"That still sounds pretty gross," he said.

"Blue is my favourite colour, so I think it'll look cool!"

"Looking on the bright side, huh?"

The sprite nodded. "There's lotsa bad. I'm trying not to think about it all too much. Momma is really sad and can barely stay with me because she's so sad. I don't understand why. Daddy's been gone all week trying to warm everything. And I've been stuck here and worst is my favourite jammies are all ruined." She sighed, pulling her knees to her chest under her nightdress and hugging them tightly.

"I can fix the jammies problem for you, kid. I'm an elf, after all."

"Thank you, Bernard."

"Making clothes is easy, no need to thank me kiddo."

"Not for that. But also, thank you for that. I'm saying thank you cause you've been spending time with me. It's been very lonely lately," she said, sad.

"Well then, it's a good thing I brought this," Bernard said, pulling a white teddy bear out of his bag.

"For me?"

"Yup."

The sprite grinned, hugging the bear. "I'm gonna name it Bernard. The Bear. Bearnard!"

The elf blushed. "Keep Bearnard safe then, okay? He's very special."

"Really?"

"Yup. I think the next little while is gonna be a little hard for you. So, if you ever feel sad or overwhelmed, you just give Bearnard a big hug and you can come see me. Sound good?"

The sprite stared at the bear, her eyes wide. She nodded.

* * *

Bernard hounded the textiles department quite a bit, making sure they got the colour right, the pattern right, and the material right. The head of textiles got fairly fed up and told him to do it himself then, since he seemed to know exactly how to do them

And so, he did. That Christmas, Jacqueline opened up a gift that simply read _from B_. There were her favourite jammies, all put together and right as rain.

The sprite smiled.

* * *

The year was 624 CE. Bernard sat in his office, enjoying a break. Until there was a flash of light, and a small child appeared on the floor of his office, holding a teddy bear tightly. A frequent occurrence, this past century.

"What's wrong kid?" he said. She stood up, teary eyed—she had grown quite a bit the last century.

"I don't think Momma loves me anymore."

"What would make you think that?"

"She never stays with me long. She always looks at me all sad. I don't know what to do so I came here."

Bernard didn't know either. But he did his best.

* * *

"That kid appears around here a lot," the current Santa said one morning to Bernard. This Santa wasn't one of Bernard's favourites. He was very…crass, to be frank.

"She's…a friend of mine."

"She really looks up to you. Who the heck is she?"

"Jack's sister."

"Frost? The winter sprite who tried to trick me into thinking the last Santa was assassinated, and that I was next?"

"That's the one."

"Never would've guessed."

"They're quite different."

"She looks up to you a lot, I think. It's very admirable of you to take her under your wing like that."

"Well…thanks sir," Bernard said.

This Santa was very crass. But he had his moments.

* * *

The year was 770 CE. A familiar light went off in his office.

"Hey kid."

"Guess what?"

"What?" he asked, without looking up. He was very preoccupied with his spreadsheets—something was off somewhere and he was trying to find the mistake.

"I have a baby sister _and_ a baby brother!"

"Congratulations," Bernard said, still not looking up.

"That's not all," she said. "Guess what _else?_"

"What?"

"Look look look!"

Bernard looked up and nearly fell out of his chair. Jacqueline was in front of his desk, holding Bearnard (who needed a bit of a wash), grinning maniacally, her hair a mess of loose, frozen white curls. "Sweet Christmas!"

"I learned how to FREEZE DRY!" she said excitedly.

"I noticed," he squeaked. The change in appearance had startled him—it would take a bit of getting use to.

"It melts every night but that's okay! Mom says practise makes perfect! I think the Twins will be good for her. She seems happier."

"That's good. So why curls?"

Jacqueline shrugged, her cheeks colouring. "'Cause you have them."

"Oh. Geez. Wow. That's…really something. Thanks, kid."

* * *

The year was 1108 CE, and Bernard was incredibly confused.

All day he could've sworn he heard the kid giggling up a storm, but when he looked in the direction of the sound, there was nothing but a pile of snowflakes. On top of that, the familiar light that signified her arrival with Bearnard in hand was nowhere to be found.

He was beginning to think that maybe he'd been working a little too hard, and was hallucinating or sleepwalking or _something_, when he heard the giggles again.

"Alright this time I've _got you_," he said, turning around very fast. He saw her, for sure—disappearing in a flurry of blue sparks and snowflakes, cheekily waving.

Bernard stared at the pile of snow. His laughter started small, before growing louder as he realized that the kid had learnt to teleport and was, of course, showing off. Just like she had with the freeze drying all those years ago.

"Two can play at this game," he said.

And so, the rest of the day he spent trying to catch Jacqueline before she poofed away. When he finally succeeded in the middle of R and D later that day, he made sure she stayed put.

"I learnt how to teleport," she said, excitedly.

"I noticed," Bernard said.

"I was trying to scare you but you always _looked_," she began, following him around.

"Making sure you didn't loose a limb, of course. Teleportation is fun, but you gotta be careful kid. You don't want to lose any particles."

"Have you ever lost any?"

Bernard didn't reply.

"Okay _fine_. I'll take a break before I go home! Where's the kitchen?"

"Down that hall, right on the end. So if you can teleport now, why do you still have Bearnard with you?"

The sprite coloured, blushing. "It felt weird leaving without him."

* * *

It was 1512 CE when Jacqueline finally managed to confuse the tinsel out of Bernard.

He sat in his office late one night, relaxing and reading a book. He wasn't too surprised when she appeared beside him. She had been doing this for centuries now and had horrible timing—well, good timing, depending on how you looked at it. She always managed to catch him when he wasn't busy.

"Hello Jacqueline."

"Hey Bernard, my elf, what's going on? How's things? Do you have any advice for someone who is about to be burnt at a stake?"

Bernard choked on his cocoa. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm going to be burnt at the stake," she repeated. "What do I do?"

"Well normally perish in an agonizing way."

"That's not helpful."

"Why are they burning you at the stake?" He didn't think Jacqueline would openly be a heretic.

"I—okay you remember that knight I was seeing, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well I dropped him because he was kind of a huge jerk and a _terrible_ swordsman. His _page_ was better than him. I was better than BOTH of them and that irked him, I think. He was all "tis not a woman's place" so I said "you are quite right" and broke up with him. Then I met this Lady, and she's wonderful! Her family is wonderful too! We were seeing each other for a while when the knight saw us, you know…" she blushed. "kissing and stuff, and he accused me the very next day of bewitching the Lady and well now I am going to be burnt at the stake."

"That is by far the most ironic thing I have heard in a while."

"Right? I didn't even freeze anything…So, what do I do? Fire isn't a good thing for me, if you recall."

"No, but your winter magic should simply make the flames seem like a really hot day. Your fire sprite lineage should give you enough resistance to poof out before you start burning up, leaving just enough time for enough smoke and flames to accumulate to cover your escape."

"That sounds really complex."

"Any better ideas?"

"Start an ice age?"

"Don't do that. That's a terrible idea."

"Noted."

Needless to say, the next day, when Bernard got reports of a prison frozen solid somewhere in Europe, he was not surprised. At least it wasn't another ice age.

* * *

In 1602 CE, Bernard was doing his rounds when a familiar chill appeared at his side, a very regally dressed Jacqueline appearing, frowning.

"You doing alright kid?"

She shrugged.

"We can go talk."

"It can wait until after your rounds, don't mind me, I'll be as silent as the grave. I am dead, after all."

"I—what? You doing alright there Jacqueline?"

"I was "burnt at the stake" yesterday," she said.

"They're still doing that?"

"You would be surprised, it's nuts out there. Like, really nutty. Especially since 1572, oh boy."

"I'll take your word for it. Let me finish these rounds, then we can go back to my office and talk properly. That okay?"

"Yeah. Like I said, silent as the grave."

Bernard rushed through his rounds, more than a little concerned for the kid. The moment they got to his office, Jacqueline began talking.

"Does it ever get any easier?"

"Does what?"

"Loosing people you love. I mean, you've gone through lots of Santa's since the first one you came with. He like raised you or something, right?"

"Or something, yeah."

"You stay while these Santas come and go. Does that ever get any easier?"

"Honestly? At first, it wasn't. Especially when the next Santa we get is not the best Santa. It's even harder when they're a Santa who has been here for a while, that's genuinely a nice person. It hurts to lose them, sometimes. But I promise with time, it gets easier. It will never be super easy, but it does get easier."

"The hurt lessens?"

"Considerably. And even fades into acceptance. Now what's got you so heart broken?"

"A princess."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. She found out I was magic. And she was okay with it. And we were really great together and she was so sweet, but unfortunately her brother found out and I got sentenced to burning at the stake _again_."

"Found out about the two of you or the magic?"

"_Both_."

"I really hope this doesn't become a habit for you, Jacqueline."

"The dating aristocracy that will absolutely get me in trouble or the burning at the stake thing?"

"Both. How did you not die this time?"

"I did what you told me to do last time."

"Better than an ice age, right?"

"A little bit, yeah. But it hurt a lot more this time."

"Literally or emotionally?"

"Both. But the burns weren't too bad, Mom stopped them fast and the Springs made them right as rain. But loosing her is really tough. She thinks I'm dead, and her brother is having her see a priest on the morrow. If I were to go back and console her…well, it wouldn't be the best idea."

"Time to lay low?"

"For a bit, yeah. Things are getting exciting out there, though. They're calling it a Renaissance. They're finding all this Roman and Greek stuff, it's amazing. But I'd enjoy it more if I wasn't so…"

"I understand. Tell you what, kid. I'll get a room set up for you, and you can stay here to cool off as long as you like."

"Really?"

"Yup. However long it takes you to feel better."

"Thanks, Bernard."

"No problem, kid."

* * *

In 1734, Bernard was cornered by a much too observant elf working in the naughty and nice center. She handed him a scroll.

"What's this for?"

"It's something you may be interested in," she said, before rushing away.

They only ever gave _Santa_ a section of the list when there were children who concerned them. Why would Bernard have one now? He unrolled it as he walked, and when he read the name on the parchment his eyes widened.

"Piracy. You're _kidding_ me. As if being burnt at the stake wasn't enough, honestly. This kid is going to give me a _lot_ of unbalanced humours." And so, when he next had free time, he found himself trying to pinpoint the exact location of said kid.

He poofed and reappeared in the hot sun somewhere near the Caribbean. The humans near him jumped, drawing weapons.

"Okay, you can put those away. Where's your captain?"

"The Captain is inside the cabin," one pirate said. She barked something in a Latin language, and all of the others put their weapons down. "Who are you?" she asked. Sure enough, as Bernard really noticed his surroundings, and tried to ignore the heat, he noticed that every crewmember was a girl.

"I'm a friend of hers."

"Alright, I'll take you to her."

The woman, whom he presumed was the first mate, led him to the captain's cabin. She knocked on the door.

"Captain! Someone is here to see you."

"What? We're in the middle of the ocean how could someone just arrive, did we get boarded? Oh, hello Bernard," she said as she opened the door.

"Hi. Mind if I come in? It's very hot out here."

"Tell me about it. Yeah, sure." She opened the door wide. She briefly talked to the woman, giving some kind of commands. She nodded and left the two of them in peace.

"So what can I do for you?"

"Piracy, Jacqueline? Really? This is your idea of lying low?"

"…Yes. Okay, I know, not the best idea, but I haven't killed anyone! We have a strict no kill policy."

"But you have pillaged and plundered quite a bit. You're on the naughty list, did you know that? You've been on it for thirty years now! And does your crew know you're magic?"

"Yes. In fact, most of the navy and other pirates do. They call me Snow Witch, Bernard! _Bruxa da neve_, how cool is that?"

"This is serious trouble you're stirring up Jacqueline. If you wanted to amass a huge fortune, why didn't you do something _less_ dangerous?"

"It was either marry rich or build a business empire, which is incredibly hard to do out here as a woman. I've been doing some good, you know. Everyone in my crew has been whisked away from various bad circumstances. We're just trying to have a good life."

"By pillaging?"

"And exploring the world! Humans are finally doing it, there's so many more interesting things to see and I'm meeting so many other magical beings that have been contacting those of us in Crystal Springs, it's so exciting!"

"Don't you miss home?"

Jacqueline sighed. "I haven't been home in a few centuries."

"You're joking."

"Well, it's always been _hard_ to be at home. I visit! And write! My parents know what I'm doing. They're okay with it, they're preoccupied with my siblings. And anyway, it beats sitting around being _judged_ by everyone in the continent just because of who I am. I'm tired of it. At least here under the blistering hot sun, I can make a name for myself."

Bernard was quiet. She had a point, though he didn't agree with how she was trying to establish herself, for lack of a better word.

"Are you happy?" He asked, struggling to consider it because all he wanted to do was whisk this kid back home and ground her. She had two swords and a wall of pistols behind her, that was _beyond_ concerning.

"For the time being, yes. Seeing the world this way is amazing, Bernard."

"I can't believe I'm doing this, but fine then. If you're happy, stick around. But promise me _one_ thing."

"Of course! What?"

"You'll stop if it gets too dangerous. Retire to the Azores or something. Okay?"

"Okay. I promise."

"Good."

* * *

It was 1924 and Bernard couldn't help but think about how weird friendship was.

At least, friendship with the kid. He found himself wondering this after a quick jaunt to her flat in Chicago. A child had asked for a snowflake that never melts, and Jacqueline would one hundred percent do it, Bernard knew with certainty—whereas her brother wouldn't have at all. She had, of course, done it for him happily.

After he had to have a serious talk with her about bootlegging. To which she had replied, "Bernard you need to stop babying me so much. I'm eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, I know what I'm doing."

He didn't quite believe that. What boggled him more was that she was eighteen hundred and twenty-nine when it seemed like just yesterday she was four hundred and thirty-one, and trapezing through the workshop alongside him very excitedly.

And now she was almost a full-grown sprite, trapezing around Chicago, bootlegging during prohibition.

Where had the time gone?

* * *

Bernard wasn't sure, but sometime in 2007 it seemed like they had gone through a very almost traumatic time together that Jacqueline fully remembered but Bernard did not. It wasn't until nearly ten years later that he fully brought it up with her.

"What happened with Frostmas?"

"It's…a lot, B-Man. It's a _lot_. Listen, when you have a moment, go to the Library at Crystal Springs. It's in the Frost family archives."

"What is?"

"A full record of everything that happened during the Twelve Years of Frostmas. It's very personal, but it'll tell you everything you need to know."

So one day, Bernard found the time, found the record, and found out a lot of things he wasn't sure if he wanted to know or not.

But above all, one moment in particular stood out to him—Jacqueline realizing that they had been friends for a while, he wasn't just a mentor (though the fact that she saw him as such made him pretty happy too).

* * *

"You two are _so_ not cousins," Elle said one day, working on one of her many side projects with Jacqueline sitting on the table, playing with the tools around them.

"Technically our species are."

"But you guys aren't blood related."

"Honestly I thought that bit was pretty obvious."

"Your ears look really similar, so not entirely. Though by looks alone when human, you guys could absolutely not pass for cousins."

"Sprite ears and Elf ears are _totally_ different. Yours are pointier, and ours are rounder. But still pointy. That made more sense in my head."

"You're dodging the question!"

"_That_ sounds familiar."

"Oh, shut it you. So, how did you and B meet anyway, hmm? I bet it's quite the story, considering your ages. Could you pass me those tweezers?"

Jacqueline passed them over. "It's a very _long_ story, but I think the moral of it is that friendship is weird and happens where you least expect it."

"That's sorta vague. Listen, you guys have known each other for a while, right?"

"Since I was about four-hundred and thirty-one."

Elle did the math in her head. "Oh my god you've been friends for just shy of fifteen _thousand_ years, that's…that's _something_."

"Really? That's not that bad. It feels like it's been way longer to be honest."

"How did you even meet?"

"Well, it was the day the Legate Law was being finalized. Jack and I were in the halls on a break and I saw Bernard and, oh man it was so funny. I really wanted to wear his hat. So Jack sent me off and I followed Bernard and wore his hat."

"That's adorable," Elle said. She had abandoned the small handheld game console and was staring at Jacqueline, fairly intrigued. "I'm surprised he let you wear it, that thing _never_ leaves his head."

"Right? I'm surprised too and am _still_ surprised. It kinda just went from there. He visited me after the Day of Darkness…he yelled at me for being burnt at the stake…"

"You were burnt at the stake?"

"Twice, actually! Once for witchcraft and both times for sexual transgressions—because God forbid you date a girl in the Middle Ages. _Literally_. There was almost a third time but I wormed my way out of that one. Don't tell Bernard he doesn't know about that one."

"Oh my god _Jacqueline_."

"He yelled at me when I was pirating—"

"You were a pirate? Actually, come to think of it, that's not surprising."

"He almost had a heart attack when I was bootlegging in the twenties…"

"Okay hold the phone. Now give it to me. Maybe start from the beginning?"

"Literally, he let me wear his hat and well…the rest is history. An interesting history. I think you'll find Bernard's version a lot more coherent. I was equivalent to a very intelligent four-year-old when we met, after all." Jacqueline smiled, winking.

"You're a menace," Elle said, getting back to work.

"Look who's talking! I know you're gonna drill B-Man. And I know later on you'll think of the _weirdest_ questions to ask him."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Elle asked, grinning.

Jacqueline smiled, staring of into the distance, lost in memories.

Friendship was weird. Weird, but good.

* * *

"So I was talking to Jacqueline and—"

"Nice to see you too, Elle."

She whacked him playfully, ignoring the sarcasm and plowing on regardless. "And she was telling me about the day you guys met. You've been friends for fifteen hundred years, B! That's crazy!"

"_She's_ crazy. It was fine when she was a kid but the moment she became a teenager, oh _man_."

"She mentioned being burnt at the stake."

"Of _course_ she did. She's proud of that."

"B, I'm so curious. What's the deal with you two? How does a friendship like that even form?"

"With my hat, evidently."

Elle laughed. "Seriously though."

"Seriously! I let her wear my hat and she came around the Workshop with me. Jack froze Santa's office and then after he got the usual lecture I brought Jacqueline back to the meeting room. After that day, I just kinda decided that someone needed to protect this kid...and so I sorta did. Ironic considering that now half the time she's protecting _me_. Maybe some might see it as her returning the favour. After all, she had quite the repertoire—"

"I know! The piracy wasn't as surprising as I thought it would be, though."

"Really?"

"Really! But back to the story!"

"Right. She had quite the repertoire but I kept an eye on her, to make sure she didn't go too far. So maybe now, she's returning the favour. But I don't think so. After meeting her as a kid, I guess I kinda appointed myself as a sort of mentor for her. But over time, she became a friend. A huge pain at times, but a friend. I can't even figure out when I went from mentor to friend, and I'm not sure the kid can either. I guess you're right, if anything. Our friendship is really old, and really interesting." Bernard thought to himself quietly as they walked through Elfsburg.

Friendship was strange. Friendship with Jacqueline was even _stranger_.

He smiled. Strange but good.

* * *

**A/N-A brief break from Winter's Birthday for what is now the longest smile shot at 8,934 word. Sorry for the length-it seems I'm over my horrible writer's block but can't write anything short (but boy oh boy I TRIED with this one, my dudes).**

**I've had these little snippets bouncing around my head since like early December and put them all together here in the story that shows the brief overview of how Bernard met Jacqueline and how they became friends! Hopefully B-Man is in character!**

**Please review! I love feedback. And we'll get back to Winter's Birthday eventually, I promise! I lost my notes for it with the hard drive destruction back in May so now I'm just trying to figure out what my plans with it were. I hope you all had very merry holidays and a very happy new year!**

* * *

**DISCLAIMER:  
I do not own the rights to _The Santa Clause,_ nor do I own Bernard, Jack Frost, or any of the Legendary figures mentioned above. I do own the rights to Jacqueline, Blaise and Winter Frost, The Twins, the other Legates, Legate concept as well as Crystal Springs. I am making no profit, this is purely for my own enjoyment and that of my readers. Please do not use my characters/concepts without my permission.**

**I also do not own Elle; she belongs to Ana, aka, etiquette-faux-pas, who has given me clearance to write Elle so long as I return her (relatively) unharmed.**


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